1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a good-tasting mouthwash preparation which is stable, visually clear and haze-free at temperatures below 8.degree. C.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Mouthwashes which are widely used to clean the mouth and associated oral areas must have an attractive flavor to obtain consumer acceptance. Such products are essentially solutions of flavoring oils in water containing small amounts of alcohol, glycerol and/or some other sweeteners. The amount of alcohol which can be used to solubilize the flavoring oils is limited. Therefore, it is necessary to devise some other means to solubilize the water insoluble flavoring oils which are a necessary ingredient of such products. There are several requirements for such solubilizing agents. They must obviously be tasteless, or, at most, exhibit a bland innocuous taste. Also, they should be capable of maintaining the clarity of the mouthwash at a low use level, down to very low temperatures, i.e., below 8.degree. C., such as 5.degree. C., since mouthwashes are usually stored in a cool location.
Currently, many commercial mouthwashes incorporate an ethylene oxide adduct of a mixture of oleate esters of sorbitol and sorbitol anhydrides. Although this is an execellent solubilizing agent, it has a very bitter taste. Usually it is used in conjunction with other nonionic surfactants, to maintain the clarity of the mouthwash at low temperatures. Another disadvantage of the use of this solubilizing agent and other ethoxylated esters and fatty alcohols is their property of inactivating germicidal or anti-caries agents which are sometimes used in liquid oral products which are not designed for ingestion
While there are many surfactants on the market which serve as solubilizers for flavoring oils and which are effective at room temperature, they are not effective at very low temperatures such as around 5.degree. C. or, in other words, temperatures below 8.degree. C. As previously pointed out, this is an important factor since mouth rinses are usually stored in a cool location.
Copending U.S. patent application, Ser. No. 466,733 discloses an oral product with good taste which has improved clarity at ambient temperatures utilizing a polyoxyethylene derivative of a fatty alcohol containing about 15 to 20 carbon atoms.
______________________________________ Issued Patents of Interest Patent No. Issued Inventor(s) ______________________________________ 4,323,552 4/6/82 Schmolka 3,639,563 2/1/72 Januszewski 3,947,570 3/30/76 Pensak et al 2,677,700 5/4/54 Jackson et al 4,150,151 4/17/79 Pader et al 3,674,502 7/4/72 Honey et al 4,132,770 1/2/79 Barth ______________________________________